Sunday, January 6, 2008

"On the eve of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Israel, a hardline member of Israel's parliament is trying to drum up support for a new peace initiative - granting Jordanian passports to all Palestinians, dismantling the Palestinian Authority and abandoning any notions of an independent Palestinian state.....

"In his way, (Bush) is leading us to catastrophe," warned Elon, a resident of a West Bank settlement and a representative of Israel's religious settlers......

Elon's plan calls for giving Palestinian refugees financial incentives to emigrate, granting Jordanian citizenship to the remaining Palestinians, and allowing Israel to retain full sovereignty over the West Bank. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank would remain in place, and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' government would be shut down.

Such an arrangement would essentially allow Israel to keep Palestinian territories while turning responsibility for the Palestinians themselves over to Jordan......."